Steve LaTourette rallies Republican centrists vs. conservatives

These are fighting words, within the Republican Party, from former U.S. Rep. Steve LaTourette.Mr. LaTourette, now a lawyer and head of the centrist Republican Main Street Partnership, today lashed out at the conservative Club for Growth for targeting Republican incumbents in primaries, calling the Club “a cancer” on the GOP, according to The Washington Post.“The Club for Growth is a cancer on the Republican Party that prides itself on supporting rigid, divisive and obstructionist candidates,” Mr. LaTourette said in a statement. “They are certainly entitled to support any candidate they want for any reason they want, but it would be nice if they told the voters the truth about their organization and if they won't tell voters the truth, we will.”The Post notes that the Club for Growth last week announced its first endorsement of a primary challenger when it backed attorney Bryan Smith against longtime Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, who is one of the more moderate Republicans in Congress.Mr. LaTourette said the Main Street Partnership will now combat the Club “dollar for dollar.”

“The era of the Club for Growth getting a free pass is over,” he said. “They will be held accountable.”In its release, Mr. LaTourette's group “also highlighted a number of key issues on which Simpson and Club President Chris Chocola — a former GOP member of the House from Indiana — both voted against the Club's stated position,” The Post reported.

Upgrades on the way

As a quick update to Monday's post about a SportsBusinessDaily.com story indicating the Cleveland Browns have retained architecture firm Gensler and Turner Construction to design a “major renovation” of FirstEnergy Stadium, Browns CEO Joe Banner issued the following statement:“We have consistently communicated that improving the fan experience is one of our priorities," Mr. Banner said. “We have engaged the Gensler architectural firm and Turner Construction to explore every opportunity to help us accomplish this through a potential renovation. This process is in the early stages, so it would be premature to discuss financial parameters, but when we have specific details we will certainly share our plans with our fans and the community."SportsBusinessDaily.com put the project at $100 million, a figure Browns officials would not confirm.The state's recently approved two-year budget gives Cuyahoga County the option to ask voters to renew the taxes on alcohol and cigarettes — you know them as the sin tax — past their scheduled 2015 expiration, providing a revenue source for improvements at all three big Cleveland stadiums/arenas.

Game for the ages

Cleveland, are you ready for some pickleball?

If so, you're in luck.The Wall Street Journal runs a fun profile of San Antonio truck driver Joe Torres and his identical twin brother, John, who hold the title of doubles champions at the Texas Senior Games in pickleball, a sport that the paper says “is often described as a mixture of tennis and ping pong.” (The USA Pickleball Association describes the sport here.)The 60-year-olds, who live five blocks apart, have participated in more than 20 tournaments. But the National Senior Games in Cleveland, which start July 19, “will be the first time the twins compete at the national level,” The Journal says. Indeed, this is the first time pickleball has been part of the National Senior Games."My brother and I have always been competitive," Joe Torres tells The Journal. "In our family it seemed like, once you turn 40, they just didn't do anything. But we loved the game of tennis and that kept us active all our adult lives, and now we've switched over to pickleball and I think we'll play a long time."John Torres, also a truck driver, says pickleball is ideal for older adults because it isn't very physically demanding, and there is a greater emphasis on strategy than on brute strength.You also can follow me on Twitter for more news about business and Northeast Ohio.

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